Sign of Gratitude
by Nishu96
Summary: After defeating Pain, Naruto decides that the least he could do for Hinata after she protected him so selflessly is to give her a small sign of gratitude...


**[A/N: Hey! (^_^)/ So I´ve thought about writing this ever since the Manga has ended and finally managed to do it! Maybe it´s just me but, though I was a Naruto x Hinata shipper, I felt the end was rather rushed and I´d have wished for a few more moments between the two of them, especially after the Invasion of Pain. So, well, maybe you´ll like what I had in mind and what should´ve happened in my opinion! I´m not sure yet if I should expand this into a story or leave it as a One-Shot, so maybe you could tell me what you think about it? Reviews are very appreciated and enjoy reading!]  
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><p><span><strong>Sign of Gratitude ~<strong> 

"Thank you for saving us, Naruto…"

Sakura´s embrace tightened a little bit, as she was simply glad and thankful that her friend and teammate had not only saved the hidden leaf village, but came also back alive from his fight with Pain. Truth to be told, she was really proud of the blonde knucklehead…

The latter, however, though also happy about his victory, felt kind of, well, _strange_, though he really couldn´t seem to find a reason why. His body had kind of stiffened as soon as his pink-haired teammate embraced him out of nowhere, but why was that? Wasn´t this what he had desired for a long time? Being close to his childhood crush? Well, maybe he was still exhausted and tense from his fight before and that´s why he couldn´t seem to enjoy it as much as he should, or so he thought at least.

All of a sudden, as he shifted his gaze into the crowd of people which had built around them and applauded their hero, he caught sight of a certain Hyuuga girl and felt his heart skip a beat.

Though one could think Hinata appeared like every day, just standing there shyly and having a faint smile on her lips, knew Naruto just too well that this wasn´t the case, on the contrary. Her words from before echoed through his mind once again:

"…_that´s why I´m not afraid to die protecting you! Because… I love you…"_

Naruto gulped at the remembrance of this and felt his heart tighten as he saw before his inner eye how she got stabbed by Pain shortly after confessing to him. What a foolish move of her to interfere his fight with Pain even though she knew she wouldn´t stand a chance! But then again…

When Sakura let go of him again and smiled at the hidden leafs hero kindly, he returned the smile half-heartedly, as his thoughts were still with Hinata and what she had done for him so selflessly. Really, the least he could do was to-

His thoughts were interrupted as the villagers and some of his friends ran towards him enthusiastically and in the blink of an eye he found himself being thrown in the air while they cheered for him once again. A feeling of happiness overcame the blonde male and a joyful grin appeared on his face, as he had reached what he always wanted; acknowledgement from those who always despised him. What a good feeling that was…

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><p>When they sat him back down onto the ground after a while and some others came as well to him in order to congratulate and thank him, he felt flattered and kind of embarrassed, as he wasn´t used to <em>that <em>kind of attention. It was nice though…

Suddenly, as it became more silent around him again, his thought from before came back into his mind and he scanned the area to find Hinata. When he couldn´t seem to find the lavender-eyed girl, he excused himself from the people who stood before him and headed off. He really needed to talk to her…

"Sakura-chan!"

The emerald-eyed girl turned her head towards Naruto, who seemed a little bit out of puff and jogged towards her. She tilted her head a bit.

"What´s the matter?"

"Do you know where Hinata went at? I can´t seem to find her…"

Sakura thought about it for a second and nodded then her head, while she pointed into the direction where she went at and replied:

"I saw her going this way with Neji. But why-"

"Thanks Sakura-chan!"

And gone he was again, while Sakura blinked at first in slight confusion, but seemed to realize then _what _he might´ve wanted from Hinata. She smiled quietly to herself and continued with what she was doing before.

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><p>Naruto hasted meanwhile into the direction Sakura told him to go, but slowed down a bit as he caught sight of the two Hyuuga´s before him.<p>

"Neji! Hinata! Wait a second!"

Both of them turned their heads around as they heard the blonde boy calling for them, while Neji raised questioning a brow at him. Hinata, on the other hand, blushed slightly. What might he want from them…?

When he stood before them, he grinned a bit nervously and asked:

"Could I talk with you for a moment Hinata?"

The shy girl nodded her head, while Naruto gazed at Neji.

"In privacy if that´s alright…"

Neji frowned at first at his request, but decided to give them a moment as Hinata smiled agreeing up to him. When he had left the two of them finally alone, surrounded them at first silence, until Naruto asked:

"Are you feeling alright again?"

A bit surprised about him speaking up all of a sudden, she nodded her head quickly and uttered:

"Y- Yes, Sakura-chan healed me very well… What about you?"

"I´m fine, though maybe a little bit tired…"

The nervous grin appeared once again on his face, while Hinata smiled lightly at him and mumbled:

"I´m glad to hear that…"

They fell once again in silence, something which was normally unusual for the big-mouthed male, but he couldn´t help and feel kind of… nervous…? But why was that in the first place? He was just talking with the good old Hinata, right? So why was this feeling so different from all the other times they talked with each other? Maybe because-

"W- Was that all you wanted to talk about Naruto-kun?"

Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he shook his head no at her question. Sheepishly he scratched then the back of his head and said:

"Actually, uh, I wanted to-"

Hell, why was it so hard for him to tell her those simple words?! He took a deep breath and looked directly into those lavender eyes of hers, while he exclaimed:

"I wanted to thank you for- for everything Hinata!"

Hinata´s eyes had widened a little bit at his statement, but responded then faintly blushed:

"Y- You´re welcome Naruto-kun…"

Flustered she glanced at her feet, as she couldn´t seem to find anymore words to tell to him. After all, what else was there to say? Except…

"Well, er, that was what I wanted to tell you, so…"

Hinata looked back up to him and saw the smile which had appeared on his lips, while she felt hers also unintentionally tugging into one as well. When he held his hand out for her, most likely to do a handshake, she was a surprised but took his hand into hers nonetheless. However, what she didn´t see coming was as he suddenly pulled her closer towards him and caught her then into a tight embrace. The girl blushed furiously and felt her body getting tense, until Naruto mumbled:

"I´ll never forget what you did for me today Hinata…"

She felt her eyes getting teary, but loosened a bit up into his arms and hugged him eventually back. It really felt nice to be like this…

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><p><strong>[AN: Well, what did you think about it? Does it have story potential or should I simply leave it like this? I´m curious to hear what you have to say!]**


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